Silva earned the "Knockout of the Night" award and Griffin and Ortiz picked up "Fight of the Night" honors. With no submissions on Saturday's sold-out pay-per-view card, there was no "Submission of the Night" bonus.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) learned of the winners and bonus amounts at the night's post-event press conference, where they were announced by UFC president Dana White.

UFC 148 took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event's main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

After being dominated in the first round against Chael Sonnen, Silva defended his middleweight title by stopping Sonnen with a second-round TKO. Sonnen took Silva down six seconds into the fight and kept him down, looking for ground-and-pound. But in the second, Silva took advantage of a Sonnen slip, landed a knee to the body and followed it with strikes to the head while Sonnen covered up.

In the co-main event, Griffin and Ortiz completed the rubber match of their trilogy with a back-and-forth battle that saw Griffin win a close unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards. The fight was Ortiz's last before retirement.

This went the way a lot of folks predicted. The first fight was really a magical performance by Sonnen, and it was unlikely he'd be able to survive against Silva for that long again.

Even though Sonnen took advantage of inaccurate shots from Silva at the start of R1, Silva was extremely active off his back and ate just a few decent shots with the rest as glancing blows or low-impact arm punches. Clear round for Sonnen, but nothing crazy.

R2 was a display of why Silva's scary. If he has some kind of beef against an opponent, and if that opponent makes a mistake in the fight, Silva will likely capitalize with precise violence. He did it against Okami, he did it against Vitor, and he did it against Chael last night.

Props to Silva's takedown defense as well. His corner gave him the exact advice needed, and it's obvious he's been working on his wrestling. Dude's really strong in the clinch, so he doesn't need a full sprawl like a lot of fighters do.

What's realistically next for Silva? If Bisping or Lombard can decisively win their next fights, I think they get the next title fight. Each has a valid claim to a title shot (more out of form and past performance than legitimate threat to the belt) that would be cemented by a quality win. Hell, if the Bisping/Belcher fight falls through (which would be a shame, as I think it'd be awesome), give the Brit his title shot. Keep Anderson active while he's still healthy and young enough to keep adding to his legacy.

Presuming Bones gets past Hendo as I think he will, I'd prefer to see Silva in one last fight, for the LHW belt. Neither division has a more compelling contender I can think of at the moment. If Silva wins, he gets to retire as the first in UFC history to win belts in two divisions with no losses in between, and Jones would have to fight for the belt again. It's likely that he'd get it back, but it would give the UFC marketing team a bit more material. If Jones wins, he'll have further established his dominance at LHW while keeping the MW belt open.

And of course, at this point I think retirement is a very valid option for Silva as well, especially if Lombard turns in a disappointing next fight. If Lombard rolls through Boetsch and Silva retires, he may rattle the saber a bit and claim that Silva ran away from him. But we'll have to see what happens there, as he might get sapped by Boetsch's clinch and grappling. And while I think Bisping has earned a title shot and is a much better fighter than most give him credit for, I don't think his volume striking would beat Anderson's precise counters.

=== Random thoughts ===

--Absolutely unfortunate injury for Dong Hyun Kim, who showcased much improved striking against Pierson. I was looking forward to a fun, standup brawl, and I think the ground game would've been a good test for both men. Kim's got the edge in raw power while Maia's BJJ grip is insane. Maia was all class as usual, and I wouldn't be opposed to a rematch between the two presuming Kim is healthy within the next few months.

--What struck me about Mike Easton's performance is that it seems suited to a 5 round fight. While I don't think he's anywhere near Anderson Silva's talent level, he did a similar thing in that he took the first round to really size up and measure his opponent, then turned it on in later rounds. Menjivar is a game and dangerous opponent, so I don't blame him overmuch for cruising. But I would like to see him take more chances and really use that power for decisive stoppage wins, especially if he starts talking about a title shot. I'd give him the loser of Faber and Barao. I think Wineland makes some sense since they're both coming off wins, but I don't see either of them being aggressive enough in that fight for us to really learn more about their capabilities. But I feel Barao and especially Faber would pressure the shit out Easton.

--Khabib Nurmagomedov successfully employed the Leonard Garcia gameplan of walking forward and flailing wildly to win over the judges. Granted, I think Tibau should've been a lot more aggressive, or at least more damaging with his counters, but he outstruck Khabib in 2 rounds (and tied in the other) and defended every single takedown attempt. Aggression is one thing, but I tend to feel it's outweighed by being punched in the face more often. But I will say Khabib showed notable heart and courage by continuing to come forward, and I'd like to see him in a year or two after hooking up with a top level camp that can refine his striking.

--Costa Phillippou is a killer with crazy testicular fortitude. There's a lot of folks I'd like to see him fight. Presuming it makes sense in the future, I think Lombard would be super entertaining.

Last edited 7/8/12 2:07PM server time by iskEdit note/reason: n/a2 total post edits